* feat(security): supply-chain advisory checker + lazy-install framework + tiered install fallback
Three coordinated mitigations for the Mini Shai-Hulud worm hitting
mistralai 2.4.6 on PyPI (2026-05-12) and for the next single-package
compromise that follows.
# What this PR makes true
1. Users with the poisoned mistralai 2.4.6 in their venv get a loud
detection banner with copy-pasteable remediation steps the moment
they run hermes (and on every gateway startup).
2. One quarantined / yanked PyPI package can no longer silently demote
a fresh install to 'core only' — the installer keeps every other
extra and tells the user which tier landed.
3. Future opt-in backends (Mistral, ElevenLabs, Honcho, etc.) can
lazy-install on first use under a strict allowlist, instead of
eagerly pulling everything at install time.
# Detection: hermes_cli/security_advisories.py
- ADVISORIES catalog (one entry currently: shai-hulud-2026-05 for
mistralai==2.4.6). Adding the next one is a single dataclass.
- detect_compromised() uses importlib.metadata.version() — no pip
dependency, works in uv venvs that lack pip.
- Banner cache (~/.hermes/cache/advisory_banner_seen) rate-limits
the startup banner to once per 24h per advisory.
- Acks persisted to security.acked_advisories in config.yaml; never
re-banner after ack.
- Wired into:
* hermes doctor — runs first, prints full remediation block
* hermes doctor --ack <id> — dismisses an advisory
* cli.py interactive run() and single-query branches — short
stderr banner pointing at hermes doctor
* gateway/run.py startup — operator-visible warning in gateway.log
# Lazy-install framework: tools/lazy_deps.py
- LAZY_DEPS allowlist maps namespaced feature keys (tts.elevenlabs,
memory.honcho, provider.bedrock, etc.) to pip specs.
- ensure(feature) installs missing deps in the active venv via the
uv → pip → ensurepip ladder (matches tools_config._pip_install).
- Strict spec safety regex rejects URLs, file paths, shell metas,
pip flag injection, control chars — only PyPI-by-name accepted.
- Gated on security.allow_lazy_installs (default true) plus the
HERMES_DISABLE_LAZY_INSTALLS env var for restricted/audited envs.
- Migrated three backends as proof of pattern:
* tools/tts_tool.py — _import_elevenlabs() calls ensure first
* plugins/memory/honcho/client.py — get_honcho_client lazy-installs
* tts.mistral / stt.mistral entries pre-registered for when PyPI
restores mistralai
# Installer fallback tiers
scripts/install.sh, scripts/install.ps1, setup-hermes.sh:
- Centralised _BROKEN_EXTRAS list (currently: mistral). Edit one
array when a transitive breaks; users keep every other extra.
- New 'all minus known-broken' tier between [all] and the existing
PyPI-only-extras tier. Only kicks in when [all] fails resolve.
- All three tiers explicit: every fallback announces which tier
landed and prints a re-run hint when not on Tier 1.
- install.ps1 and install.sh both regenerate their tier specs from
the same _BROKEN_EXTRAS array so updates stay in sync.
Side effect: install.ps1 Tier 2 spec previously hardcoded 'mistral'
in its extra list — bug fixed by the refactor (mistral is filtered
out).
# Config
hermes_cli/config.py — DEFAULT_CONFIG.security gains:
- acked_advisories: [] (advisory IDs the user has dismissed)
- allow_lazy_installs: True (security gate for ensure())
No config version bump needed — both keys nest under existing
security: block, and load_config's deep-merge picks up DEFAULT_CONFIG
defaults for users with older configs.
# Tests
tests/hermes_cli/test_security_advisories.py — 23 tests covering:
- detect_compromised matches/non-matches, wildcard frozenset
- ack persistence, idempotence, blank rejection, config-failure path
- banner cache rate limiting + 24h re-banner + ack-stops-banner
- short_banner_lines / full_remediation_text / render_doctor_section /
gateway_log_message
- shipped catalog well-formedness invariant
tests/tools/test_lazy_deps.py — 40 tests covering:
- spec safety: 11 safe parametrized + 18 unsafe parametrized
- allowlist: unknown-feature rejection, namespace.name shape,
every shipped spec passes the safety regex
- security gating: config flag, env var, default, fail-open
- ensure() happy/sad paths: already-satisfied, install success,
pip stderr surfaced on failure, install-succeeds-but-still-missing
- is_available, feature_install_command
Combined: 63 new tests, all passing under scripts/run_tests.sh.
# Validation
- scripts/run_tests.sh tests/hermes_cli/test_security_advisories.py
tests/tools/test_lazy_deps.py → 63/63 passing
- scripts/run_tests.sh tests/hermes_cli/test_doctor.py
tests/hermes_cli/test_doctor_command_install.py
tests/tools/test_tts_mistral.py tests/tools/test_transcription_tools.py
tests/tools/test_transcription_dotenv_fallback.py → 165/165 passing
- scripts/run_tests.sh tests/hermes_cli/ tests/tools/ →
9191 passed, 8 pre-existing failures (verified on origin/main
before this change)
- bash -n on install.sh and setup-hermes.sh → OK
- py_compile on all modified .py files → OK
- End-to-end smoke test of detect_compromised + render_doctor_section
+ gateway_log_message with mocked installed version → produces
copy-pasteable remediation output
# Community
Full advisory + remediation steps:
website/docs/community/security-advisories/shai-hulud-mistralai-2026-05.md
Short-form post drafts (Discord, GitHub pinned issue, README banner):
scripts/community-announcement-shai-hulud.md
Refs: PR #24205 (mistral disabled), Socket Security advisory
<https://socket.dev/blog/mini-shai-hulud-worm-pypi>
* build(deps): pin every direct dep to ==X.Y.Z (no ranges)
Companion to the supply-chain advisory work: replace every >=/</~= range
in pyproject.toml's [project.dependencies] and [project.optional-dependencies]
with an exact ==X.Y.Z pin sourced from uv.lock.
Why: ranges allow PyPI to ship a fresh version of any direct dep at any
time without a code review on our side. With ranges, the malicious
mistralai 2.4.6 release would have been pulled by every fresh
'pip install -e .[all]' for the hours between upload and PyPI's
quarantine — exactly the install window we got hit on. Exact pins close
that window: the only way a new package version reaches a user is via
an intentional update on our end.
What the user-facing change is: nothing, behavior-wise. Every package
resolves to the same version it was already resolving to via uv.lock —
the pins just remove the resolver's freedom to pick a different one.
Cost: any user installing Hermes alongside another package that requires
a newer pin gets a resolver conflict. Acceptable for our isolated-venv
install path; documented in the new comment block.
Build-system requires line (setuptools>=61.0) is intentionally left
as a range — pinning the build backend would block fresh pip from
bootstrapping the build on architectures where that exact wheel isn't
available.
mistral extra (mistralai==2.3.0) is pinned but stays out of [all]
(per PR #24205). 'uv lock' regeneration will fail until PyPI restores
mistralai; lockfile regeneration is gated behind that, NOT on every PR.
LAZY_DEPS in tools/lazy_deps.py also moved to exact pins so the lazy-
install pathway can never resolve a different version than the one
declared in pyproject.toml.
Validation:
- Cross-checked all 77 pinned direct deps in pyproject.toml against
uv.lock — every pin matches the resolved version exactly.
- Cross-checked all LAZY_DEPS specs against uv.lock — same.
- 'uv pip install -e .[all] --dry-run' resolves 205 packages cleanly.
- tests/tools/test_lazy_deps.py + tests/hermes_cli/test_security_advisories.py
→ 63/63 passing (every shipped spec passes the safety regex).
- Doctor + TTS + transcription targeted suite → 146/146 passing.
* build(deps): hash-verify transitives via uv.lock; remove unresolvable [mistral] extra
You asked: 'what about the dependencies the dependencies rely on?' —
correctly noting that exact-pinning direct deps in pyproject.toml does
NOT cover the transitive graph. `pip install` and `uv pip install` both
re-resolve transitives fresh from PyPI at install time, so a compromised
transitive (e.g. `httpcore` if it got worm-poisoned tomorrow) would
still hit our users even with every direct dep exact-pinned.
# What this commit fixes
1. **Both real installer scripts now prefer `uv sync --locked` as Tier 0.**
uv.lock records SHA256 hashes for every transitive — a compromised
package with a different hash gets REJECTED. Falls through to the
existing `uv pip install` cascade if the lockfile is missing or
stale, with a loud warning that the fallback path does NOT
hash-verify transitives. Previously only `setup-hermes.sh` (the dev
path) used the lockfile; `scripts/install.sh` and `scripts/install.ps1`
(the paths fresh users actually run) skipped it.
2. **Removed the `[mistral]` extra entirely.** The `mistralai` PyPI
project is fully quarantined right now — every version returns 404,
so any pin we wrote was unresolvable, which broke `uv lock --check`
in CI. Restoration is documented in pyproject.toml as a 5-step
checklist (verify, re-add extra, re-enable in 4 modules, regenerate
lock, optionally re-add to [all]).
3. **Regenerated uv.lock.** 262 packages, mistralai/eval-type-backport/
jsonpath-python pruned. `uv lock --check` now passes.
# Defense-in-depth view
| Layer | Where | Protects against |
|----------------------------|-------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| Exact pins in pyproject | direct deps | new mistralai 2.4.6-style direct compromise |
| uv.lock + `--locked` install | transitive graph | transitive worm injection |
| Tier-0 hash-verified path | install.sh / .ps1 | actually USE the lockfile in fresh installs |
| `uv lock --check` CI gate | every PR | drift between pyproject and lockfile |
| `hermes_cli/security_advisories.py` | runtime | cleanup for users who already got hit |
The exact pinning + hash verification together close the supply-chain
gap. Without the lockfile path, exact pins alone are theater.
# Validation
- `uv lock --check` → passes (262 packages resolved, no drift).
- `bash -n` on install.sh + setup-hermes.sh → OK.
- 209/209 tests passing across new + adjacent test files
(test_lazy_deps.py, test_security_advisories.py, test_doctor.py,
test_tts_mistral.py, test_transcription_tools.py).
- TOML parse OK.
* chore: remove community announcement drafts (PR body covers it)
* build(deps): lazy-install every opt-in backend (anthropic, search, terminal, platforms, dashboard)
Extends the lazy-install framework to cover everything that's not used by
every hermes session. Base install drops from ~60 packages to 45.
Moved out of core dependencies = []:
- anthropic (only when provider=anthropic native, not via aggregators)
- exa-py, firecrawl-py, parallel-web (search backends; only when picked)
- fal-client (image gen; only when picked)
- edge-tts (default TTS but still optional)
New extras in pyproject.toml: [anthropic] [exa] [firecrawl] [parallel-web]
[fal] [edge-tts]. All added to [all].
New LAZY_DEPS entries: provider.anthropic, search.{exa,firecrawl,parallel},
tts.edge, image.fal, memory.hindsight, platform.{telegram,discord,matrix},
terminal.{modal,daytona,vercel}, tool.dashboard.
Each import site now calls ensure() before importing the SDK. Where the
module had a top-level try/except (telegram, discord, fastapi), the
graceful-fallback pattern was extended to lazy-install on first
check_*_requirements() call and re-bind module globals.
Updated test_windows_native_support.py tzdata check from snapshot
(>=2023.3 literal) to invariant (any version + win32 marker).
Validation:
- Base install: 45 packages (was ~60); 6 newly-extracted packages absent
- uv lock --check: passes (262 packages, no drift)
- 209/209 lazy_deps + advisory + doctor + tts/transcription tests passing
- py_compile clean on all 12 modified modules
Salvage of PR #8018 by @alt-glitch onto current main.
On sandbox teardown, FileSyncManager now downloads the remote .hermes/
directory, diffs against SHA-256 hashes of what was originally pushed,
and applies only changed files back to the host.
Core (tools/environments/file_sync.py):
- sync_back(): orchestrates download -> unpack -> diff -> apply with:
- Retry with exponential backoff (3 attempts, 2s/4s/8s)
- SIGINT trap + defer (prevents partial writes on Ctrl-C)
- fcntl.flock serialization (concurrent gateway sandboxes)
- Last-write-wins conflict resolution with warning
- New remote files pulled back via _infer_host_path prefix matching
Backends:
- SSH: _ssh_bulk_download — tar cf - piped over SSH
- Modal: _modal_bulk_download — exec tar cf - -> proc.stdout.read
- Daytona: _daytona_bulk_download — exec tar cf -> SDK download_file
- All three call sync_back() at the top of cleanup()
Fixes applied during salvage (vs original PR #8018):
| # | Issue | Fix |
|---|-------|-----|
| C1 | import fcntl unconditional — crashes Windows | try/except with fallback; _sync_back_locked skips locking when fcntl=None |
| W1 | assert for runtime guard (stripped by -O) | Replaced with proper if/raise RuntimeError |
| W2 | O(n*m) from _get_files_fn() called per file | Cache mapping once at start of _sync_back_impl, pass to resolve/infer |
| W3 | Dead BulkDownloadFn imports in 3 backends | Removed unused imports |
| W4 | Modal hardcodes root/.hermes, no explanation | Added docstring comment explaining Modal always runs as root |
| S1 | SHA-256 computed for new files where pushed_hash=None | Skip hashing when pushed_hash is None (comparison always False) |
| S2 | Daytona /tmp/.hermes_sync.tar never cleaned up | Added rm -f after download (best-effort) |
Tests: 49 passing (17 new: _infer_host_path edge cases, SIGINT
main/worker thread, Windows fcntl=None fallback, Daytona tar cleanup).
Based on #8018 by @alt-glitch.
* perf(ssh,modal): bulk file sync via tar pipe and tar/base64 archive
SSH: symlink-staging + tar -ch piped over SSH in a single TCP stream.
Eliminates per-file scp round-trips. Handles timeout (kills both
processes), SSH Popen failure (kills tar), and tar create failure.
Modal: in-memory gzipped tar archive, base64-encoded, decoded+extracted
in one exec call. Checks exit code and raises on failure.
Both backends use shared helpers extracted into file_sync.py:
- quoted_mkdir_command() — mirrors existing quoted_rm_command()
- unique_parent_dirs() — deduplicates parent dirs from file pairs
Migrates _ensure_remote_dirs to use the new helpers.
28 new tests (21 SSH + 7 Modal), all passing.
Closes#7465Closes#7467
* fix(modal): pipe stdin to avoid ARG_MAX, clean up review findings
- Modal bulk upload: stream base64 payload through proc.stdin in 1MB
chunks instead of embedding in command string (Modal SDK enforces
64KB ARG_MAX_BYTES — typical payloads are ~4.3MB)
- Modal single-file upload: same stdin fix, add exit code checking
- Remove what-narrating comments in ssh.py and modal.py (keep WHY
comments: symlink staging rationale, SIGPIPE, deadlock avoidance)
- Remove unnecessary `sandbox = self._sandbox` alias in modal bulk
- Daytona: use shared helpers (unique_parent_dirs, quoted_mkdir_command)
instead of inlined duplicates
---------
Co-authored-by: kshitijk4poor <82637225+kshitijk4poor@users.noreply.github.com>
Automated dead code audit using vulture + coverage.py + ast-grep intersection,
confirmed by Opus deep verification pass. Every symbol verified to have zero
production callers (test imports excluded from reachability analysis).
Removes ~1,534 lines of dead production code across 46 files and ~1,382 lines
of stale test code. 3 entire files deleted (agent/builtin_memory_provider.py,
hermes_cli/checklist.py, tests/hermes_cli/test_setup_model_selection.py).
Co-authored-by: alt-glitch <balyan.sid@gmail.com>
Replace per-backend ad-hoc file sync with a shared FileSyncManager
that handles mtime-based change detection, remote deletion of
locally-removed files, and transactional state updates.
- New FileSyncManager class (tools/environments/file_sync.py)
with callbacks for upload/delete, rate limiting, and rollback
- Shared iter_sync_files() eliminates 3 duplicate implementations
- SSH: replace unconditional rsync with scp + mtime skip
- Modal/Daytona: replace inline _synced_files dict with manager
- All 3 backends now sync credentials + skills + cache uniformly
- Remote deletion: files removed locally are cleaned from remote
- HERMES_FORCE_FILE_SYNC=1 env var for debugging
- Base class _before_execute() simplified to empty hook
- 12 unit tests covering mtime skip, deletion, rollback, rate limiting
- Add .zip to SUPPORTED_DOCUMENT_TYPES so gateway platforms (Telegram,
Slack, Discord) cache uploaded zip files instead of rejecting them.
- Add get_cache_directory_mounts() and iter_cache_files() to
credential_files.py for host-side cache directory passthrough
(documents, images, audio, screenshots).
- Docker: bind-mount cache dirs read-only alongside credentials/skills.
Changes are live (bind mount semantics).
- Modal: mount cache files at sandbox creation + resync before each
command via _sync_files() with mtime+size change detection.
- Handles backward-compat with legacy dir names (document_cache,
image_cache, audio_cache, browser_screenshots) via get_hermes_dir().
- Container paths always use the new cache/<subdir> layout regardless
of host layout.
This replaces the need for a dedicated extract_archive tool (PR #4819)
— the agent can now use standard terminal commands (unzip, tar) on
uploaded files inside remote containers.
Closes: related to PR #4819 by kshitijk4poor
Skills with scripts/, templates/, and references/ subdirectories need
those files available inside sandboxed execution environments. Previously
the skills directory was missing entirely from remote backends.
Live sync — files stay current as credentials refresh and skills update:
- Docker/Singularity: bind mounts are inherently live (host changes
visible immediately)
- Modal: _sync_files() runs before each command with mtime+size caching,
pushing only changed credential and skill files (~13μs no-op overhead)
- SSH: rsync --safe-links before each command (naturally incremental)
- Daytona: _upload_if_changed() with mtime+size caching before each command
Security — symlink filtering:
- Docker/Singularity: sanitized temp copy when symlinks detected
- Modal/Daytona: iter_skills_files() skips symlinks
- SSH: rsync --safe-links skips symlinks pointing outside source tree
- Temp dir cleanup via atexit + reuse across calls
Non-root user support:
- SSH: detects remote home via echo $HOME, syncs to $HOME/.hermes/
- Daytona: detects sandbox home before sync, uploads to $HOME/.hermes/
- Docker/Modal/Singularity: run as root, /root/.hermes/ is correct
Also:
- credential_files.py: fix name/path key fallback in required_credential_files
- Singularity, SSH, Daytona: gained credential file support
- 14 tests covering symlink filtering, name/path fallback, iter_skills_files
Two related fixes for remote terminal backends (Modal/Docker):
1. NEW: Credential file mounting system
Skills declare required_credential_files in frontmatter. Files are
mounted into Docker (read-only bind mounts) and Modal (mounts at
creation + sync via exec on each command for mid-session changes).
Google Workspace skill updated with the new field.
2. FIX: Docker backend now includes env_passthrough vars
Skills that declare required_environment_variables (e.g. Notion with
NOTION_API_KEY) register vars in the env_passthrough system. The
local backend checked this, but Docker's forward_env was a separate
disconnected list. Now Docker exec merges both sources, so
skill-declared env vars are forwarded into containers automatically.
This fixes the reported issue where NOTION_API_KEY in ~/.hermes/.env
wasn't reaching the Docker container despite being registered via
the Notion skill's prerequisites.
Closes#3665
Drop the swe-rex dependency for Modal terminal backend and use the
Modal SDK directly (Sandbox.create + Sandbox.exec). This fixes:
- AsyncUsageWarning from synchronous App.lookup() in async context
- DeprecationError from unencrypted_ports / .url on unencrypted tunnels
(deprecated 2026-03-05)
The new implementation:
- Uses modal.App.lookup.aio() for async-safe app creation
- Uses Sandbox.create.aio() with 'sleep infinity' entrypoint
- Uses Sandbox.exec.aio() for direct command execution (no HTTP server
or tunnel needed)
- Keeps all existing features: persistent filesystem snapshots,
configurable resources (CPU/memory/disk), sudo support, interrupt
handling, _AsyncWorker for event loop safety
Consistent with the Docker backend precedent (PR #2804) where we
removed mini-swe-agent in favor of direct docker run.
Files changed:
- tools/environments/modal.py - core rewrite
- tools/terminal_tool.py - health check: modal instead of swerex
- hermes_cli/setup.py - install modal instead of swe-rex[modal]
- pyproject.toml - modal extra: modal>=1.0.0 instead of swe-rex[modal]
- scripts/kill_modal.sh - grep for hermes-agent instead of swe-rex
- tests/ - updated for new implementation
- environments/README.md - updated patches section
- website/docs - updated install command
- add managed modal and gateway-backed tool integrations\n- improve CLI setup, auth, and configuration for subscriber flows\n- expand tests and docs for managed tool support
Drop the mini-swe-agent git submodule. All terminal backends now use
hermes-agent's own environment implementations directly.
Docker backend:
- Inline the `docker run -d` container startup (was 15 lines in
minisweagent's DockerEnvironment). Our wrapper already handled
execute(), cleanup(), security hardening, volumes, and resource limits.
Modal backend:
- Import swe-rex's ModalDeployment directly instead of going through
minisweagent's 90-line passthrough wrapper.
- Bake the _AsyncWorker pattern (from environments/patches.py) directly
into ModalEnvironment for Atropos compatibility without monkey-patching.
Cleanup:
- Remove minisweagent_path.py (submodule path resolution helper)
- Remove submodule init/install from install.sh and setup-hermes.sh
- Remove mini-swe-agent from .gitmodules
- environments/patches.py is now a no-op (kept for backward compat)
- terminal_tool.py no longer does sys.path hacking for minisweagent
- mini_swe_runner.py guards imports (optional, for RL training only)
- Update all affected tests to mock the new direct subprocess calls
- Update README.md, CONTRIBUTING.md
No functionality change — all Docker, Modal, local, SSH, Singularity,
and Daytona backends behave identically. 6093 tests pass.
Fixes discovered while running TBLite baseline evaluation:
1. ephemeral_disk param not supported in modal 1.3.5 - check before passing
2. Modal legacy image builder requires working pip - add ensurepip fix via
setup_dockerfile_commands to handle task images with broken pip
3. Host cwd leaked into Modal sandbox - add /home/ to host prefix check
4. Tilde ~ not expanded by subprocess.run(cwd=) in sandboxes - use /root
5. install_pipx must stay True for swerex-remote to be available
Dependencies also needed (not in this commit):
- git submodule update --init mini-swe-agent
- uv pip install swe-rex boto3
- Add max_concurrent_tasks config (default 8) with semaphore in TB2 eval
- Pass cwd: /app via register_task_env_overrides for TB2 tasks
- Add /home/ to host path prefixes as safety net for container backends
When all 86 TerminalBench2 tasks fire simultaneously, each creates a Modal sandbox
via asyncio.run() inside a thread pool worker. Modal's blocking calls deadlock
when too many are created at once. The semaphore ensures max 8 concurrent creations.
Co-Authored-By: hermes-agent[bot] <hermes-agent[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
- Added a new section in the README for Inference Providers, detailing setup instructions for Nous Portal, OpenRouter, and Custom Endpoints, improving user guidance for LLM connections.
- Updated messaging platform setup instructions to include Slack and WhatsApp, providing clearer steps for configuration.
- Introduced a new environment variable, TERMINAL_SANDBOX_DIR, to allow users to customize the sandbox storage location for Docker and Singularity environments.
- Refactored the Docker and Singularity environment classes to utilize the new sandbox directory for persistent workspaces, enhancing organization and usability.
- Improved handling of working directories across various environments, ensuring compatibility and clarity in execution paths.
- Introduced a shared interrupt signaling mechanism to allow tools to check for user interrupts during long-running operations.
- Updated the AIAgent to handle interrupts more effectively, ensuring in-progress tool calls are canceled and multiple interrupt messages are combined into one prompt.
- Enhanced the CLI configuration to include container resource limits (CPU, memory, disk) and persistence options for Docker, Singularity, and Modal environments.
- Improved documentation to clarify interrupt behaviors and container resource settings, providing users with better guidance on configuration and usage.
